Lindenberg (born May 17, 1946 in Gronau) started his musical career as a dr… Read Full Bio ↴Lindenberg (born May 17, 1946 in Gronau) started his musical career as a drummer. In 1969 Lindenberg founded his first band Free Orbit and also appeared as a studio and guest musician (with Michael Naura, Knut Kiesewetter). In 1970 he collaborated as a drummer with jazz-saxophonist Klaus Doldinger in Munich. In 1971, a band founded by Lindenberg, Passport put out its first album, with Lindenberg on drums. He also played drums for the theme music for the German TV series Tatort. The first LP of the Jazz rock group Emergency was released in 1971 but met with little commercial success.

The LP Lindenberg (also 1971, and sung in English, already with Steffi Stephan on bass) was likewise unsuccessful. In the following year, the fist LP in German was released: Daumen im Wind (produced by Lindenberg and Thomas Kukuck, who also produced the next five albums together), from which the single "Hoch im Norden" became a radio hit in northern Germany. The year 1973 brought a breakthrough with the album Andrea Doria and its catchy "Alles klar auf der Andrea Doria" and "Cello". Over 100,000 copies sold, and Lindenberg quickly received the largest record deal of any German-language musician up to that time. Lindenberg was earning a special place in the new German-language music of the 70s: Between internationally-oriented Krautrock and pop music, he found his niche. German-language rock had previously been confined to predominantly political message bands whose music was directed at a narrow audience.

Lindenbergs brash style, everyday subject matter ("Bei Onkel Pö…") and his feel for language were an unprecedented combination in German-language music. His pioneering work helped other artists such as Stefan Waggershausen and Marius Müller-Westernhagen get record deals of their own. In 1973 Lindenberg first went on tour with his Panikorchester (Panic Orchestra).

1976 was one of Udo Lindenberg's most productive years. Besides the LP Galaxo Gang he also published under the name Das Waldemar Wunderbar Syndicat I make you feel good, a first Best of Panik Udo and the first in a series of foreign-language publications No Panic, on which Lindenberg translated his songs to English. In the same year (and on another LP: Sister King Kong) with the song "Rock ’n’ Roll Arena in Jena", Lindenberg first mentioned a Panic Orchestra tour in the GDR. In 1976, Lindenberg discovered Ulla Meinecke and produced her first two albums. She was a guest artist and co-author of the 1977 LP Panische Nächte (Panic Nights) and the 1978 Dröhnland Symphonie. On Lindenbergs Rock Revue (1978) Lindenberg and Horst Königstein "Germanized" rock classics from Little Richard to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, and went on a big tour. The Nr.-1-Hit "We Gotta Get out of This Place" was also published with German lyrics.

The subsequent Dröhnland-Symphonie-Tour was staged by Peter Zadek as a big multimedia stage show with a plethora of costumed extras. The result was Lindenbergs first live album Livehaftig. In 1979, Der Detektiv was the second Rock Revue, in which more international hits such as "Candle in the Wind" by Elton John, "Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwolf, "My Little Town" and "As Time Goes By" (from the film Casablanca) were "Germanized". Also 1997 was published "Belcanto - Udo Lindenberg & das Deutsche Filmorchester Babelsberg" which included hits like "Horizont", "Bis ans Ende der Welt" along with a song by Bertold Brecht and Udo's own interpretation of The Windmills of Your Mind - "Under the drunkard moon" ("Unterm Säufermond").

One of his most famous songs is Sonderzug nach Pankow (Special train service to Pankow), an adaptation of Chattanooga Choo Choo, released as a single on 2 February 1983. It originated from the refusal of eastern German authorities to allow Lindenberg a concert in the German Democratic Republic (GDR).

On June 3, 2011, Lindenberg performed at Kampnagel unplugged. The recording was later released as an album within the MTV unplugged series. Lindenberg was the 8th German artist in that series. The album became the second No.1 album for Lindenberg declared Platin status for 200,000 sold units after two weeks. The second single from the album "Cello" (feat. Clueso) went No.4 giving Lindenberg the highest chart position in German singles charts ever reached.

Lindenberg has worked collaboratively with various local and international recording artists (Eric Burdon, Helen Schneider, David Bowie, Tom Robinson, Keith Forsey, Gianna Nannini, and Nena) on a number of projects. He currently lives in Hamburg in the Hotel Atlantic (for several years now). His somewhat hoarse voice is the result of too much liquor and cigarettes. In 1989, he survived a heart attack. In 2010, he designed two stamps, themed on his songs "Andrea Doria" and "Sonderzug nach Pankow", for the Deutsche Post.

Weltreise
Udo Lindenberg Lyrics

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Jetzt bist du weg zum Amazonas

du kannst doch nicht so einfach gehen!
Bist auf der Reise zu den Inseln

die auf keiner Karte stehn

irgendwo in der Südsee

so unvorstellbar weit

mit deinem kleinen Koffer
unterwegs in Richtung Ewigkeit.

Ich will dich oft anrufen
und greif zum Telefon.
Ich wähl die alte Nummer

weiß
du gehst nicht ran

doch wer begreift das schon.
Ich schreib dir lange Briefe

doch das hat alles keinen Sinn.
Wo soll ich jetzt mit meiner Liebe

sag
wo soll ich jetzt damit hin?

Doch du hast immer gesagt:
Wenn ich mal geh',sollst du nicht so lange weinen,weil über dunklen Wolkenmillionen Sterne scheinen.
Und die Sterne sind wie Fenster

durch sie fällt gleißend helles Licht
auf golden glänzende Bühnen

mh mh
doch nichts genaues weiß man nicht.

Overall Meaning

The song Weltreise by Udo Lindenberg tells the story of someone who has left for an adventure to the Amazon and unknown islands in the South Seas. The singer cannot comprehend how someone could just leave like that, and he feels lost and abandoned. He desperately tries to reach out by calling, but no one picks up, and his letters seem futile. He asks, "Where do I go with my love now?" He is left with the uncertainty of the future, not knowing where the journey will take his loved one.

The lyrics are a poignant reminder of the feelings of separation and the fear of the unknown. It shows that even when one embarks on an adventure, there is always a sense of loss, something that is left behind. As the person travels deeper into the unknown, the people left behind are left to wander in the abyss of loneliness and despair.

Overall, Weltreise is a poignant and beautifully written song that touches on the vulnerability of human emotion, the fear of the unknown, and the sense of loss and abandonment.

Line by Line Meaning

Jetzt bist du weg zum Amazonas
You left for the Amazon, but how can you leave so easily?

Bist auf der Reise zu den Inseln
You're on a journey to the islands that are not even shown on the maps

die auf keiner Karte stehn
That are so distant and remote, they're unimaginable

irgendwo in der Südsee
In someplace in the South Sea

so unvorstellbar weit
A place so far away, it's beyond imagination

mit deinem kleinen Koffer
You packed lightly with nothing but a small suitcase

unterwegs in Richtung Ewigkeit.
Riding towards eternity

Ich will dich oft anrufen
I want to call you often

und greif zum Telefon.
But when I reach for the phone

Ich wähl die alte Nummer
I dial the old number

weiß, du gehst nicht ran
I know you won't answer